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Katelyn Gardner
Mr. Williams
H American Literature
13 January 2015
Animals Have Rights Too
Animal experimenting is the experimentation on animals for research use. Many
manufacturers use animals to do toxicology testing, cosmetic testing, drug testing and
medicines. Even though scientists also use animals to observe natural behaviors or pure
observations, majority of animal testings’ involve chemical reactions to their body.
Animal experimenting is a long and precise process in which it takes many years of
schooling. But why is it an issue? How do people benefit from it? What do people think
to harm animals with our selfish needs?
Animal experimentation has many issues and benefits. But there are many more
issues than benefits dealing with animal experimentation. The United States passed an
Animal Welfare Act (AWA) in 1966. The AWA regulates the treatment of animals in
research and exhibition. The animals that are protected by this act are hamsters, rabbits,
guinea pigs or other warm blooded animals. The problem is that the AWA also excludes
animals, such as mice bred, rats, birds, cold blooded animals and farm animals. “An
estimated 90 percent of all animals used in research are rats and mice (Speak Out for
Species (S.O.S).” The farm animals are used for food and other purposes but we will get
to the later. The Animal Welfare Act should include all animals. The scientists should
experiment on cells of animals that have died of natural causes, and then they will not be
harming living things. The animals that are being tested are either killed during or after
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the experiment. If they are still alive the animals are being captivated 24/7 in small cages.
For example, at the Charles River Laboratories, scientists experimented on three dogs.
The dogs had to ingest a test tube every day for five days. In result the dogs became cold
to the touch and were not able to arouse. The overall result for this lab was that one dog
had died and the other two dogs were euthanized (Examples of Severe Animal Suffering).
Another issue with using animals for experimentation is that animals will not have the
same reactions as humans. Any drug that is inserted in an animal will not have the same
reactions or results as if it was injected into a human, because animals live in an
unnatural habitat and they will be more under stress. The outcome of animal
experimentation will lead to an invalid experiment. But let’s say the reaction to a drug
actually succeeds. The drug could work but majority of the drugs will not see publication
or production. Therefore animals were tested and even died for a drug that worked but
may never be seen in public. Scientist also uses farm animals to be tested on, like it was
said in the beginning. Their rights are far a bit more confusing. The farm animals are
under the Animal Welfare Act only they are used for testing, biomedical research and
exhibition, The only reason scientist can use animals are for food or fiber research
because it’s not regulated under the AWA (Farm Animals). There are certain extents to
which scientist can or cannot use animals for animal experimentation.
Even though using an animal that have no rights to be experimented on, it has
benefited the people for many decades. When the drugs do reach to public consumption,
it has helped millions of people to have medical treatments for cancer, HIV drugs,
insulin, antibiotics, and vaccines. All of the medications were tested on animals and
benefited the human species. The testing on animals had also improved human health.
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“New cancer drugs account for 50-60 percent of the gains we have made in cancer
survival rates since 1975 (Animal Research Benefits).” In America, cancer is one of the
biggest issues in finding a cure. Scientists do not need to use animals, for example a man
has discovered a treatment to eliminate leukemia. He figured out a way to use photons
instead a radiation. The experiments were dealing with animal cells that were already
dead by natural causes and the scientist also used mechanics to find a way to use the
photon radiation. Another benefit of animal experimentation can lead to new discoveries
in many treatments. For example, “there is a new molecular and genetic understanding of
tumor biology, leading to treatments that set out to more directly kill cancer cells, which
are molecularly different from normal cells (Animal Research Benefits)” thanks to
animal experimentation. Animal experimentation has been around for many years and
will continue on until there is a better way to experiment on medications.
There is always an alternative to use other resources to cure an issue instead of
using living things such as animals. At Harvard’s Wyss Institute, the students have
created an “organ-on-chips” that can contain human cells to mimic the function and
structure of organ systems and human organs. Instead of using animals the chips will be
in use for disease research. It can also be used for drug testing and toxicity texting. The
organs-on-chips have also been shown to replicate human physiology. Many companies
have already sent them the chips to do their research in place of animals. An addition to
the organ-on-chip discovery to replace animals, there are variety of cell-based tests and
tissue models that can be used to address the safety of chemicals, drugs, cosmetics, and
consumer products. The name is called CeeTox, it has developed a “method to assess the
potential of a substance to cause a skin allergy in humans (Alternatives to Animal
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Testing).” This can replace the use of guinea pigs or mice that have been injected with
many substances and chemicals. The animals have also been shaved in order for the
scientists to see the allergic response. This discovery can also replace rabbits that have
been in painful experiments that have traditionally been used to evaluate chemicals for
their ability to irritate the skin. One more discovery to replace animal experimentation is
developed five different tests that use human blood cells to find contaminants in drugs
that can cause dangerous fever response when it is entered in the body. This alternative
was created by researchers at the European Union Reference Library and it helps all the
rabbits from painful procedures done to them. Scientists and researchers have found
alternative ways to help the human body to recover by using living units instead of using
animals. There are many more solutions as well as using computers to determine if the
experiment is a success or not,
There are a wide range of developed computer models that can stimulate human
biology and the development of diseases. In the past years, studies have shown that the
sophisticated computer models can accurately predict any kind of ways of how the new
drug will react in the human body. It can also replace the use of animals in research and
many other standard drug tests. Another computer modeling technique is called
Quantitative structure-activity relationships also known as QSAR. QSAR is a technique
to replace animal tests by making estimates of a substance that can be hazardous.
“Companies and governments are increasingly using QSAR tools to avoid animal testing
of chemicals, and PETA actively promotes and funds their use internationally.
(Alternatives to Animal Testing)” Over the years, people have seen many changes in
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development to replace animals for computers, human cells and human organs as a
sophisticated way to make new discoveries and treatments.
In conclusion, Animal experimentation is not a valid way to create solutions to
human health problems. There are more factors for scientists not to use animal
experimentation and solutions to replace it as well. Animal experimentation is an issue to
many people in America and all around the world because some believe animals are Gods
or family to the human species. When scientists use animals for human needs, its shows a
sign of selfishness and greed towards them. Scientists believe by using a human for
scientist experiments is unhuman but using an innocent animal is perfectly fine. Animals
have souls just like any other human but humans have a say so because we can
communicate with other humans. Humans can’t communicate with animals therefore
they do not have a say. Animals have helped scientist discover new medicines for cancer,
but there were hundreds of animals that have died during the process. Again,
manufacturers use animals to do toxicology testing, cosmetic testing, drug testing and
medicines and have created new creations from these testing’s but they did not actually
need to use animals. The scientists could have easily used QSAR, CeeTox, or organ-onchips to find new solutions. Animal experimentation had first started in the 1600s;
therefore it’s been around for 415 years. It is now 2015 and scientists have more
resources to find alternative ways to experiment without the use and harm of innocent
animals. There is more and improve technology for scientists to use also. There should be
a new law to pass for no one to or have the right to harm or experiment on the animal
species. Animal experimenting is the experimentation on animals for research use. Many
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manufacturers use animals to do toxicology testing, cosmetic testing, drug testing and
medicines and should be stopped. Animals have rights too.
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Works Cited
 "Speak Out for Species (S.O.S) - Animals Used in Experiments and Testing."
Speak Out for Species (S.O.S) - Animals Used in Experiments and Testing.
Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
 "Examples of Severe Animal Suffering in Laboratories : The Humane Society
of the United States." RSS. 25 June 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
 "Farm Animals." Farm Animals. 24 June 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
 "Animal Research Benefits: | Americans for Medical Progress." Americans For
Medical Progress - Because Research Needs Advocates. Americans of Medical
Progrees, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2013
 "Alternatives to Animal Testing." PETA. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
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"Speak Out for Species (S.O.S) - Animals Used in Experiments and Testing."
Speak Out for Species (S.O.S) - Animals Used in Experiments and Testing. Web. 25
Feb. 2015.
This source is a major strength for my research paper because it tells a
statistics to how many rats and mice are being harmed in animal experimentation.
It’s also strength because it supports my idea of what major animals are being
experimented on. A weakness to this source is if another scientist comes up with
another percentage of how many rats and mice are being experimented on.
"Examples of Severe Animal Suffering in Laboratories : The Humane Society
of the United States." RSS. 25 June 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
This source is a major strength to my research paper because it gives
evidence to the reader of how animals are dying for human research. It targets the
readers emotions to give sympathy towards innocent animals that were harm
during a experiment. A weakness is the care the dogs might have been. The scientist
could have taken really good care of the dogs but they probably haven’t. There
wasn’t any detail or not of the care for the animals before they died.
"Farm Animals." Farm Animals. 24 June 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
A strength to this source is of the proof of a law that was passed. It also tells
the reader that there are people who trying to help animals but I got this fact from a
.com website. The weakness is if this law is an actual law or does it give me all the
accurate facts about the law.
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"Animal Research Benefits: | Americans for Medical Progress." Americans For
Medical Progress - Because Research Needs Advocates. Americans of Medical
Progrees, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2013
A strength to this source is that the website was from .edu with has reliable
information. Another strength is that it gives evidence on how scientist are trying to
avoid using animals for experiments and use technology. They are finding new ways
and trying to help living things. A weakness to this source is that the reader doesn’t
know how long or how often this alternative is being used.
"Alternatives to Animal Testing." PETA. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
A strength to this source is that I have found it off a reliable website as well. It
had many facts and statistics for me to use in my research paper. I liked the website
because it came from the hearts of people who want to stop animal abuse. A
weakness is that it had a lot of point of views meaning there wasn’t any good facts
about animal experimentation.